A Quick Note

This is about something which is beyond my control.  I have noticed that Blogger has changed things around in how photos are uploaded to my posts on all my blogs.  If the writing on my posts seem all over the place, it's not my doing.  It's how the photos have been reacting to the text and vise versa.  

If you have any problems on how it looks, please lodge all complains with Blogger.  

Thank you.

Art Workshop at the Logan Art Gallery

Yesterday afternoon, Mum and I took off to the Logan Art Gallery to take part in a workshop to make our own book covers.  The great thing was that the artist who was showing there was also giving the class.  So, we got to talk to her.  Sandy Johnson told us how she was inspired to work with mixed media and an old set of books her children could no longer use thanks to the internet.

Then, we had our chance to have a go at doing this great artistic fun ourselves.  She showed us how to make our piece of calico into a 4-layered backdrop of what would turn into our book cover, wall-hanging or whatever we thought it would be.  But instead of making us wait for two days for it to cure/dry, she had some ready-made ones for us to finish off.  And we all had our own idea of how

things were supposed to look.  

My phase one (piece of calico with the 4-layered backdrop) looked really great until I put some tissue paper on it.  For some reason it looked very gooey and messy after that.  Otherwise, I was thrilled with my phase two piece that I simply put some bookcrossing notes, ribbon and stamps on; and then to finish it off, I gave it a light blue wash.  Very nice.  I look forward to using it on a journal at some point.  However, I'm still trying to figure out what can be done about the first phase piece I've got still drying downstairs which looks like it's falling apart; but it may not yet.

I'll keep you posted about it and if it's a failure, I'll see what I can do about it; and see if I can improve upon it and make it better.  If not, well, Sandy might be doing something differently to what we did yesterday.

Hand-painted Gift for Kalman

On Bookcrossing, there's been an exchange of gifts in memory of one of the Bookcrosser's sons. A lot of us took part and I received a gift from a wonderful person in Western Australia; and so, seeing she send me wonderful, brand new books wrapped in gorgeous paper, I thought to hand-paint something just for her.
Here I have an old box I've had sitting around the house from another art thing I did years ago. It was actually a gift box I used to use for a friend of mine to store souvenirs for when I needed ideas. Now, I've decided to paint it up and give it away filled with goodies to another. I just hope she enjoys it as much as I did painting it.
Some years ago, I designed a style of four-petaled flower that was simplistic and lovely in its own way; however, not everyone liked it... not even me. But, once in a while I'll add it into my paintings as a quirky little thing that is an original fingerprint to make it my own. And I'm glad I have. So, I I thought to cover this small box with these lovely flowers and had a great idea of gluing silk leaves all over it to give it a textured look. However, seeing it didn't work (and I didn't have a hot glue gun), I decided to paint them on instead; and did it work a treat! I also painted the inside too.
Now, all I have to do is stick some felt to the bottom, sign my work and give it all a good spray with varnish and it's all done. I've already bought some lovely little things my Kalman Exchange person can use in her arty exploits; as well as her life.

Is there anything you've designed for others you'd like to show off? If so, let us know your website through the comments box below. I'd love to hear from you. Until my next post, keep knitting and keep creating!

An Update on Old Work.

For those who have been with me from the start, if you remember, I began this site to track where I attached my knitted trees projects. Well, I didn't get very far with it because my area isn't all that safe. But I did fill you in on what I've been doing artistically in my other pursuits; and this has been rather successful.

However, yesterday, while I was on my way to the bus stop, I decided to see what became of one of my first knitted tree projects from a few years back. And what do you know? It's still attached to the tree in Kookaburra Park on Park Road and it's still looking good! There's no tag on it (not that I'd expect it to be there), but it was worthwhile choosing a fully-grown tree to stitch it to! And just look at the pictures that I managed to get before bus came! Doesn't it look good; and after all that rain we've had here in Brisbane too!

Well, until my next post. Keep knitting and keep creating.

All At Once

I've had a couple of projects on the run all at the same time; and it caught up with me last night. I copped myself eye strain in my left eye! Haven't had that for a long time, and don't wish to get it again. So, I gave myself the night off from knitting a part of a square for the blanket, painting anything or cutting up magazines... and did I feel useless! I have gotten so used to making sure my hands are doing something that when I stopped them from doing anything, I felt unproductive. Doesn't that feel horrible?

As well as the above projects that are being worked on all at the same time, I'm also taking part in 365 Project which has a lot to do with creative photography. Next week there's a colour theme from Sunday to Saturday. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue Indigo and Violet. I hope I can get the last two colours right; they'll be hard.

Anyway, I've been working on getting rid of the magazines I don't need... and slowly but surely I'm getting there. I'm also practicing a lot of piano - even though it sounds terribly out of tune - and also I'm still working on the main second painting I chose to work on. Yep, my art life is going well. Slowly, but well. Until next time, keep knitting and keep creating.

New Farm Park

While I was out and about on Sunday afternoon with friends, we went to the Powerhouse Museum at New Farm Park to see an exhibition of photographs of singers and bands in concert. It was brilliant and I loved it. Afterward, we took a walk around place and out near the Brisbane River where we found a very original flood marker that showed how high the 1974 floods rose to around the area. For years, I thought this particular piece of outsider artwork was just that until I read the plaque between the first and second letter. These red letters stand around 5ft tall on the taller letters and that's where the waters rose to. And being only 5ft myself, I felt very small against all this metal. Then, you had to add on the remaining level of the river before it reached these markers; and it shows this was a bad flood. But a remarkably good way of showing where it came to.

In New Farm Park itself, there's other outsider art around the place and these two ladies in steel were just two of them. I found them eye-catching and beautiful in their own way; and they were set apart by only a few metres. Even though they don't really have any names on them, they make the rose garden nearby look lovely. I tend to think they may be the guardians of the rose garden seeing that both of them are holding a flower each; and New Farm Park has a large rose garden which makes it a wonderful backdrop for weddings.

So, there are the two pieces of artworks I've seen recently that I thought to share with you all. Stay tuned and I'll keep you up to date with more photos of outsider art from Logan City and the Brisbane Metro Area. There really are some wonderful artists out there.

New Work I'm Starting On

I've been cleaning out my house in that past month or so; and have found I've accumulated quite a few magazines that are very much out of date. So, while I was wondering what to do with them, I had the best idea and thought to make a collage with the words from the paragraphs, titles and sub-titles of the articles. Each collage would have a theme and it would be fun to do. This will take time to do; and I will need to wait for the wet weather to clear up. But I think it will work.

Wish me luck!

Brilliant Art I've found.

While I was on holidays, I found two pieces of wonderful art that I thought would be great to share here. Now, people in New South Wales paint pretty much anything the Tweed Shire lets them, and this Pad Mounted Substation was no exception! Now, just look at her! Isn't she gorgeous with all those pink, pink curls? I loved her from the moment I saw her when I arrived at Brunswick Heads and wanted a photo. And seeing it was almost the end of my holidays, I asked my Dad to slow the car down so I could.

The next photo I have here wasn't far from the substation. He's a letterbox of a rather famous family in Ocean Shores. These people built one of the first 'green houses'. The house works almost completely off green energy; and they have been for a long time now. But their letterbox does get a lot of attention from people walking and driving past. Personally, I think he's just cute!

Stayed tuned for more photos of public art around other areas that have been done by wonderful artist who should be recognised!

And Introducing!

It's been a good while since I introduced a new section to this blog. And it's about time I did. Seeing it's an art blog, I'm going to start doing a few things that will perk it up a little.

First thing I'm going to do is begin an artist's discussion section. This is a little like a author's discussion (like the one in my other blog 'My Reading List') but it's about artists from all walks of life; from Picasso to Van Gogh, I'll do research on them and you'll be able to read about some of their life here and I'll put in a link to a either an official website or a site as close to it as possible.

The next interesting thing I'm going to try and do is take photos of art that other people have done. It could be graffiti, interesting letterboxes or something somebody did on the side of bus stop that I've found brilliant and interesting and thought to share with you. I'll tell you where I found it and see if there's an author or tag attached; and also if I find that tag anywhere else, then we can all follow that artist around the Logan area.

Okay, there's the two new items that will be added into this post. I must apologise for not doing this sooner... it has taken me a while to get back into my arts. I am getting back into this passion of my life. And once this part of 'A Natural Background' is grounded, I hope you enjoy it.

If there is anything you'd like to ask about or offer up as a suggested, please do leave a comment on the most recent post and I'll look into it and get back to you as soon as I can.

The Next Unfinished Painting Is....

As you all know, I've got a collection of paintings that I rushed through years ago and either half-finished them and signed them or I stopped halfway through and got stuck. Well, this year is the year I'll be getting into finishing some - or all - of them. I began with the one below; and that was great success! Seeing it didn't have a name, I had the best fun getting you guys to name my painting for me. The new one that's up on my easel now is name 'Face In a Vase of Flowers'. What I did was stick my face into a vase of flowers and painted what I saw. It's a very up-close and interesting view of what did see.
However, the before shot isn't all that exciting. It's very flat. So, I'll be sitting at it every few days and fixing up this painting to get the details right; not changing the flowers or leaves, just getting the light and colour right so it jumps out to the viewer.

So, stay tuned for the next time you see this painting; it'll look brand new and gorgeous!